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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Smith foresee when he first applied to become a firefighter?

2. What kind of living quarters did Dennis Smith grow up in?

3. Why were merchants good to firefighters (i.e., by giving them discounts) under the old system?

4. Why did it take the firemen longer than usual to reach the large fire on Intervale Avenue in Chapter 10?

5. Why was Smith concerned about striking for better working conditions?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Smith distinguish between acts of shoplifting and looting within poor neighborhoods?

2. Why does Smith suggest that perhaps even with guidance, South Bronx resident Tina de Vega may still have ended up on drugs and prostituting herself?

3. How did the elementary student, Cynthia, approach her interview with Smith in Chapter 9?

4. How did Smith convince himself of the need to respond to all calls when he found himself getting fed up with the arson incidents?

5. Why did Smith think it was useless to argue with the sneering youths hanging around a fireman's car in Chapter 10?

6. What were Smith's initial views of firefighting before he joined the department?

7. In what way does it seem as though Smith--despite his hatred for cockroaches--actually respects them?

8. How did the firefighters react to the call in Chapter 7 in which they tended to a man who almost overdosed on drugs?

9. How did contemplating the changing seasons make it easier for Smith to deal with the dangers of his job?

10. How did Dennis Smith feel as a child when the welfare inspector visited his family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Smith was extremely busy with work and family, but managed to carve out time to take daily notes so that he could write a book. In what ways do you think the act of writing this memoir helped Smith process the horrible scenes he frequently witnessed? Do you think that writing about his painful experiences gave him a way of working out his feelings about them? Could the book be considered a form of therapy?

Essay Topic 2

Smith reveals a particular contempt for people who steal from their fellow poor and mentions that he himself shoplifted from fancy stores as a child, but would never have stolen from a neighbor. What do you think about this attitude? Is it acceptable for the poor to steal from stores? Does shoplifting have an effect only on the store owner or does the effect trickle down to the entire community? Should the punishments be different depending upon whom the victim is?

Essay Topic 3

There were several incidents in the book in which firefighters were attacked by the very neighbors they were trying to help. The book took place at a time in which young people were questioning all authority, especially that of police. Why were firefighters seen as authority figures not to be trusted? Did Smith view this as a logical view of firemen or as a confusing result of desperate poverty?

(see the answer keys)

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